PLANNING chiefs have no right to protect businesses in central Worcester, it has been claimed.

Worcester City Football Club wants a £5m stadium at Nunnery Way, with associated retail development.

Members of the city council's technical services committee were due to be lobbied by project leader David Hallmark at a meeting this evening.

He was dismayed to learn planning officers have recommended refusal, saying the 150,000sq ft of retail space could threaten shopping areas within Worcester.

"It's not their job to defend businesses," said Mr Hallmark.

"They're planners, not self-appointed protectors of private business."

He claimed there must be a "hidden agenda" behind the officers' decision to recommend the football club put its 6,000-seat stadium at Tolladine Goods Yard instead.

Mr Hallmark dismissed the suggestion as "no go", saying access was poor and no developer was interested in the site.

But Stuart McNidder, the city's director of development services, said it was an officer's "job to protect the vitality of Worcester city centre.

"National policy means that we follow what is called sequential planning. Out of town developments have to be a last resort."

Mr McNidder said he was concerned that the plans had changed from being a stadium with retail development to "a retail park with a stadium attached".

He questioned whether the proposed 1,000-space car park - covering four acres of land - would be big enough to cater for at least 6,000 football fans as well as shoppers, and said he was worried about the impact of the "warehouse" units too.

"There's only one other site where this development could go and that's Tolladine Goods Yard," he said.

"The downside is we'd lose employment land."

The club, currently in the Dr Martens Premier League, has the lowest league ranking for a city of its size in the country. It says it urgently needs to upgrade because it is aiming for promotion to the Nationwide Conference.

In two years' time, Conference clubs must have a capacity for 6,000-seat stadiums to be eligible for membership.